Bae Sang-moon ( ko, 배상문; born 21 June 1986), or Sang-moon Bae, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Professional career

Bae turned professional in 2004. He won the 2006 Emerson Pacific Group Open on the

Korean Tour The Korean Tour is a men's professional golf tour run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) of South Korea. In 2011, it had total prize money of about US$14 million. Professional golf in Korea dates back to the mid 20th century. ...

, and in 2007 he won the

SK Telecom Open The SK Telecom Open is an annual professional golf tournament hosted in South Korea and sponsored by the Korean cell phone company SK Telecom. The tournament was inaugurated in June 1997 as "SK Telecom Classic", and renamed in 2001. It is part of ...

, an

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

and Korean Tour co-sanctioned event held in his home country. In 2008, he won his home country's open, the Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open. In 2009, he won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open. In 2011, Bae finished as the leading money winner on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...

for the season after winning three tournaments. Bae was the second consecutive Korean to take this accolade after

Kim Kyung-tae Kim Kyung-tae ( ko, 김경태; born 2 September 1986), also known as K.T. Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the Asian and Japan Golf Tours. Career He won several tournaments as an amateur, including the 2006 Japan Amateur ...

's success in 2010. His three victories all came within two months of each other at the Vana H Cup KBC Augusta, the

Coca-Cola Tokai Classic The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. It was founded in 1970 and is played at the Miyoshi Country Club (West Course), Miyoshi, Aichi is a city located in central Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated popu ...

and the Japan Open. At the end of the year, he competed at the

PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. Beginning in 2013, Q-School grants privileg ...

, where he finished T11 to secure his playing rights for the 2012

season. He also reached his career high world ranking of 26th in 2011. Bae started the season very strongly, making all of his first eight cuts on the PGA Tour. He recorded his first top-10 finish of the year when he reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, knocking out

Ian Poulter Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. He has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings. The highlights of Poulter's career to date have been his two W ...

and

Charl Schwartzel Charl Adriaan Schwartzel ( ; born 31 August 1984) is a South African professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series and has previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won one major ...

before losing to

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in tha ...

. In March 2012, Bae lost in a four-man playoff at the

Transitions Championship The Valspar Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, northwest of Tampa, Florida. History The tournament was founded in 2000 as the ...

on the

. After finishing at −13 for the tournament, he lost the playoff when

Luke Donald Luke Campbell Donald MBE (born 7 December 1977) is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour. Donald had an outstanding year in 2011, winnin ...

holed a birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Bae,

Jim Furyk James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 200 ...

and

Robert Garrigus Robert Garrigus (born November 11, 1977) is an American professional golfer who is currently a member of the PGA Tour. He won the 2010 Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last event of the PGA Tour season, to guarantee exempt status on the ...

. He finished his debut season making 17 out of 25 cuts and ended up 71st in the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

standings, one position outside of qualifying for the third playoff event. In May 2013, Bae won his first PGA Tour event at the

HP Byron Nelson Championship The AT&T Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020- ...

, beating

Keegan Bradley Keegan Hansen Bradley (born June 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won five tour events, most notably the 2011 PGA Championship. He is one of six golfers to win in his major debut, along with Ben Cu ...

by two strokes. Bae entered the final round a single stroke behind Bradley, but birdied four out of his first seven holes to move four ahead. However Bae double-bogeyed the ninth after finding water and bogeyed the 10th and 15th to drop back to a share of the lead. Bae then proceeded to birdie the 16th and when Bradley bogeyed the 17th, Bae had a comfortable two shot lead to come down the 18th and secure his maiden victory. He became just the fourth South Korean-born winner on the PGA Tour, after

K. J. Choi Choi Kyung-Ju ( ko, 최경주; born 19 May 1970), commonly known as K. J. Choi, is a South Korean professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Since turning pro in 1994, he has won more than twenty p ...

Yang Yong-eun Yang Yong-eun ( ko, 양용은; born 15 January 1972), also called Y. E. Yang, is a South Korean professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he won twice, including most not ...

, and

Kevin Na Kevin Sangwook Na ( ko, 나상욱; born September 15, 1983) is a Korean American professional golfer. He was a member of the PGA Tour until June 2022, when he resigned in order to join LIV Golf. He won five tournaments on the PGA Tour between 20 ...

. Bae was embroiled in political controversy late 2014 after his work visa expired and he had yet to serve twenty-one months in the South Korean military as required of men age 18–35. By comparison,

and

completed their military requirements before turning professional. Bae countered that he had residency in the U.S. and was exempt. In July 2015, a South Korean court ruled Bae spent too much time in South Korea to be exempt and must fulfill his military requirement. In response, the PGA Tour created a "Mandatory Obligation" category that would allow Bae to retain his exemption after completing his service, similar to the major medical exemption. Bae earned an invitation to the

2015 Presidents Cup The 2015 Presidents Cup was the 11th Presidents Cup, played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, South Korea from 8–11 October. It was the first time the Presidents Cup was played in Asia. The United States won for the sixth succes ...

as a captain's pick by

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean retired professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-19 ...

. It was his last event before military service, which began in November 2015. His military service ended in August 2017. Bae made his return to professional golf at the 2017

Shinhan Donghae Open The Shinhan Donghae Open is a men's professional golf tournament that has been held annually in South Korea since 1981. It has been an Asian Tour event since 2016. And it became the first event to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Korean PGA and ...

, an event he won twice as a member of the

. His PGA Tour return came at the

Safeway Open The Fortinet Championship, previously the Safeway Open, is a professional golf tournament, part of the PGA Tour. Originally sponsored by Fry's Electronics, it was first staged in 2007 as the Fry's Electronics Open at Grayhawk Golf Club's Raptor ...

. Bae finished 202nd in the FedEx Cup, but earned entry to the Web.com Tour Finals via his military exemption. He won the

Albertsons Boise Open The Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet ...

and regained his PGA Tour card for the 2018–19 season.

Professional wins (15)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)

* The

Japan Open Golf Championship The is Japan's national open golf championship. Founded in 1927, it is one of the oldest professional golf tournaments in Japan. The Japan Open is one of the three richest tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, with a prize fund of ¥210 million in ...

is also a Japan major championship. Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–1)

Asian Tour wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)

Web.com Tour wins (1)

OneAsia Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Korean Tour wins (9)

*2006 SBS Emerson Pacific Group Open *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

¹ *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

KEB Invitational (1st tournament), Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open¹ *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

GS Caltex Maekyung Open¹, Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open² *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

² *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

¹ Co-sanctioned by the

² Co-sanctioned by the

OneAsia Tour The OneAsia Tour was a men's professional golf tour based in the Asia-Pacific region. The tour was founded in 2009 as a joint venture between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean PGA. T ...

Other wins (1)

*2008 Fortis International Challenge (Malaysia; with Kim Hyung-tae)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (twice, current) *Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing South Korea):

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Asia):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

(winners) *

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

(representing the International team):

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bae, Sang-moon South Korean male golfers Asian Tour golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Sportspeople from Daegu South Korean Buddhists 1986 births Living people